An object of this invention is to provide a method and a device for the electropneumatic inspection of the longitudinal and/or transversal permeability of the so-called ventilated cigarettes. A ventilated cigarette is one which is provided with a ventilation area near its mouthpiece in which the cigarette filter and/or wrapper is intentionally given a higher permeability by providing it, for instance, with very small holes.
Devices are known, for instance, from Italian Pat. No. 887,698 for the inspection of the pneumatic cigarette seal and, consequently, of the wrapper integrity, by applying a pneumatic pressure to a cigarette end and then measuring the pneumatic pressure drop at the cigarette inlet.
These known devices cannot be used at all for the electropneumatic inspection of ventilated cigarettes, since the pneumatic seal inspection is rendered less efficacious by the presence of the small ventilation holes.
For the specific electropneumatic inspection of ventilated cigarettes many other methods and devices have been proposed which are, however, very laborious to carry out and complicated. For instance, one known methods involves the occlusion of the ventilation area by means of quite complicated and functionally inaccurate devices.
The purpose of this invention is to provide a method and device for the electropneumatic inspection of ventilated cigarettes, without occluding the ventilation area of the cigarettes, and which allows the objective determination of the intrinsic characteristics of longitudinal and/or transversal permeability of the cigarettes.